Langer states his Ashes case

Justin Langer says he has spent his entire career defending his batting place, but he hopes the credit gained over 100 Tests will keep him ahead of Phil Jaques for the Ashes. Jaques, the New South Wales opener, is in the middle of a huge off-season - he scored 240 and 117 for Australia A to follow a double-century for Worcestershire - and there have been rumblings that he is ready to partner Matthew Hayden at the top of the order.

Langer, 35, told the Sunday Age Jaques was "batting brilliantly" and was "a bloody good player" who could follow the path of Michael Hussey by earning a spot in the middle order. "My name always comes up but there are six batting spots up for grabs," he told the paper. "Look at Mike Hussey. He opened his whole life. He never batted anywhere else but now he's a superstar in the middle order.

"If you can bat, you can bat anywhere from one to six. I'm not saying anything at all against the other blokes in the team, but you'd think Phil Jaques is keeping every one of us on our toes. He's putting us all under pressure ... I think my career speaks for itself. I've played a hundred Tests and hope that gives me some credit points with the selectors." Michael Clarke has talked of his desire to fight for the spot he regained in Bangladesh and Damien Martyn is another batsman who returned to the side during the team's last two tours.

Throughout his Test career, which began in 1992-93, Langer has usually battled successfully to hold his spot against more free-flowing players, despite improving his strike-rate so much over the past decade that it is higher than those achieved by Michael Slater, Mark Waugh and Michael Hussey. The gritty descriptions have also been hard to shake and have been partly responsible for limiting him to eight one-day appearances.

"There's always someone who should take my spot - Matthew Elliott, Michael Slater, Greg Blewett, Phil Jaques," he said. "I've gone through my whole career with plenty of people thinking I should be replaced."

Langer, who was severely concussed by Makhaya Ntini in his 100th Test in April, has proved his fitness during a short stint with Somerset that included a career-best 342 in the County Championship. "The first ball I faced in England, I'll admit I was bloody nervous," he said. "I remember my first net session over there. I hadn't batted for three months and my first net was at a high school on a really bad greentop wicket. But I had a really good session against a lot of short stuff and that got me going."